Two common problems in video analysis are motion estimation and segmentation. Motion estimation is necessary for a multitude of tasks in video processing. Knowledge of segmentation, while not required for all video applications is able to provide additional information and enable higher-level understanding of video content.
Motion estimation and segmentation have been studied by many researchers. Often the two are addressed independently, which is non-optimal. Often, the two are addressed by complicated theoretical means, which is able to lead to unwieldy implementations. There are numerous methods, ranging from block-based sum-of-absolute-differences to probabilistic methods based on Bayesian estimation.